Shane and Beth
by BrickylLove
Summary: This is an alternative ZA where Shane left the farm on his own free will and was never killed by Rick. Set after season 4, and Beth's kidnapping, Shane is rescued by Beth. (This from a prompt for my friend Angela, love you, girlie)
1. Chapter 1

**_Author's Note: In this version of TWD, Shane left Hershel's farm of his own free will, and was never killed by Rick. This story takes place after Beth was kidnapped during season 4_**.

Though Beth had fully integrated herself into the hospital, and was now trusted enough to perform her duties without a guard, she had yet to take advantage of her freedom and escape. She'd had multiple opportunities, yes, and her stuffed bug-out bag was hidden, just waiting for her to grab it from the side of an open elevator shaft. Wanting away from these sick people more than she'd ever wanted anything, Beth was frustrated that something held her in the hospital of horrors.

Every time Beth readied herself to leave, voices in her mind, usually her father, but sometimes Maggie or Daryl, would tell her to wait, that the time was not right. Since those voices were her subconscious, she often worried about her sanity. Perhaps deep inside, she was too terrified to try this world on her own, but that reasoning didn't feel right, either.

Beth knew she could handle whatever came her way. As had become her habit, she rubbed at the healed walker bite on her forearm, as amazed as always that she was still alive, 1 of 2 to survive out of the thousands of test subjects who had perished. That she, Beth Greene, was now immune to walker bites, blew her mind.

Late that afternoon, when the orderlies wheeled in 6 new "infected" test subjects, Beth's heart raced as she heard a familiar, though drugged, voice, "Y'all gon' regret this shit, I promise you."

Shane! Beth squeezed her eyes shut tightly, lest her tears give her away. Taking several deep, bracing breaths, she then schooled her features to her normal mask.

"I just finished tweaking the strain we gave you, Beth, and I'm hopeful one of these will survive," the Doc told her, and she nodded, watching as he gave each of his 6 patients a shot.

Shane was still threatening steadily and the Doc rolled his eyes toward Shane, "Sometimes we just can't seem to knock the big guys out as quickly, no matter how much morphine we give them."

"I'ma kill every one of you sombitches," but Shane's voice was weakening, and Beth knew he'd be passed out soon.

"Here," the Doc handed Beth a syringe, "I've got to get something to eat, haven't left the lab in 12 hours. If the big one doesn't go down soon, give him another shot of morphine."

Beth nodded, "Yes, Doc," as he left the room. How she hated that sadistic asshole, and his tests. Murder was what he did, regardless of his whole "I'm saving humanity" speech that he regularly gave anyone who would listen.

Shane had come in with 5 other men, rough characters from the look of them, but they were all knocked out. Each had a walker bite on their left forearm. No one had bothered to bandage the bites because the odds were they'd all be walkers soon. Each man was strapped to a gurney. Feeling foreheads, Beth noted three already burned with fever.

As she reached Shane, she was unsure what to do. He was so heavily drugged that he might give away the fact that they knew one another. A plan was forming in her mind, if Shane survived, and honestly that was a huge "if", she would run with him.

Her daddy's voice, "He's a good, strong man, Bethie. You need him."

Mind made up, she leaned over Shane and watched as his drugged eyes cleared slightly.

...

Wherever the hell Shane was, damn he couldn't think, was full of some sick sons of a bitches. It was hard to hold onto a thought, but he knew he'd been bit, they'd fucking held his arm out to a walker, like some sadistic offering. He hated he'd been bit, and that other _humans_ had forced the bite on him. Before he died though, he was going take out every sick asshole in this place. Damned if he wouldn't.

"Shane?" a sweet little voice said softly.

It was hard to focus on the angel in front of him, the small blond in the hospital scrubs. She reminded him of someone, a girl he once knew, a girl with big blue eyes and the voice of an angel. Hershel's daughter.

"You look like Beth," he said, and forced his eyes to remain open.

The angel smiled, "I am Beth, but you can't act like you know me. I'm getting both of us out of here."

"Little Beth became a woman, well how 'bout that?" Shane slurred in a whisper and then he passed out.

...

The other five had turned and died during the night. Beth was well-schooled in her duties. She monitored the infection, scribbled notes on each man's symptoms, times of death, reanimation, and the moment she stabbed their awakening walker brains.

Now she watched Shane. Asleep, he looked much softer than she remembered him. She rested a hand on the strong bones of his face, but there was still no sign of fever, which was good. Not allowing herself to be hopeful yet, she traced a finger down his strong jawline to his full lips.

Back on the farm, 16 year old Beth had crushed hard on Shane. He was a big, gorgeous man, and unlike Daryl, who she'd also crushed on, Shane had been nice to her.

Toward the end of Lori's pregnancy, the other woman had told Beth all about Shane. How he'd saved Lori and Carl, protected them with his life, and how hard it had been on the other man when Rick returned, "I still loved him Beth, I couldn't just stop loving him when Rick came back. I tried to hang onto him, to go back to the friendship we had before the apocalypse, but I should have just let him go. I destroyed their friendship."

Beth remembered listening to Lori, naively wishing Shane had stayed. Stayed until Beth was old enough to love him. The memory made her smile for the first time in months. God, had she ever truly been that innocent?

The velvety soft lips underneath her fingertip moved, and Shane croaked, "Beth Greene. Is that really you?"

"Shhhhhh..." she told him, leaning down to put her lips right next to his ear, "The Doc will come check you soon. I need you to pretend I just gave you more morphine. A shift change will happen in about an hour and I'm planning on giving the other nurse your dose, drugging her so we can get the hell out of here. Can you do that? Stay unmoving regardless of how the Doc pokes at you?"

She stood up and met the chocolate brown of Shane's eyes, he still looked a little fuzzy as he replied, "Sure girl, whatever you want I can do it."

His husky voice sent a shiver down her spine, and as he quirked a smile at her, his lips drew her gaze. The man really had a gorgeous mouth, "Beth Greene. All grown up and rescuing me. Who'd'a thought it?"

"I need you alert and ready to go. I think I can easily get us to the main gate, but getting out won't be easy. You'll have to lay here and trust me."

"I can do that," he whispered, and then the door opened. The Doc strolled in, his bald head gleaming in the fluorescent lights.

"One's still with us, that's good. That's good. Has he given you any problems?"

"No, he came to a few minutes ago, threatened to kill me, but I gave him another shot of morphine."

The Doc barely glanced at Shane, instead he flipped through Beth's notes, "It's still soon to know if he'll survive, just keep an eye on him, and let me know if his temperature rises."

"I will, Doc," Beth replied as he left the room.

As the door clicked shut, Shane whispered, "What the hell kind of shit have you gotten mixed up in, girl?"

"Shhh... later, I'll explain it once we're out of here."


	2. Chapter 2

Beth really hated giving Katherine, the other nurse, such a high dose of morphine. She'd tapped the other woman on the base of the skull with with the pistol from her bug-out bag. Tapped her hard. As she caught Katherine and gently laid her on the floor, she knew it had to be done. Katherine was the other bite survivor, and she and Beth had bonded over their shared experience.

Opening the medicine cabinets, she stuffed whatever would fit into her bag before opening Shane's straps. As he stood tall above her, he swayed slightly and Beth put a steadying arm around his waist. Damn the man was a solid muscle. Once he was steady, she handed him 3 caffeine pills and a bottle of water.

"I'm hoping this will help with the groggy feeling," she told him, as he nodded and swallowed the pills. She watched his throat work and had to pinch herself, damn, she was finally about to leave this hellhole and all she seemed to want to do was stare at Shane.

"Come on," she told him, "anyone could come by. Stay right behind me."

...

Shane was definitely more alert now. As he followed Beth down dark corridors, he marveled at the changes in Hershel's daughter. Everyone grows up fast, he told himself, in an apocalypse. She stopped suddenly at a corner, holding up her hand, telling him to stay, as she disappeared.

A moment later, Beth was motioning him on. There was a guard sprawled out on the floor, obviously tapped by Beth's little pistol and Shane was impressed.

Suddenly they were outside, and the bright light of mid-morning stung Shane's eyes until they adjusted.

"This way," Beth whispered, handing him a crowbar from her backpack, "think you can knock out a couple of men with this?"

At his nod, she added, "We're going behind that guard tower, I'll go in and distract them. Then you take them out. Got it?"

Shane grinned at her in amazement before his look turned serious, "Got it, Beth."

...

Earl and Johnny knew Beth, and the two guards came out to greet her. As she chatted them up, flirting, both eyed her up and down. Earl barely had a chance to watch Johnny slump to the ground before Shane popped him, too.

"We can take their jeep," Beth told him, "or try to go on foot. The jeep will be missed faster."

"We need transport," Shane told her. He felt a little strange, jittery, but light-headed, "and I'm not sure I can run right now."

Beth laid a hand on his forehead, "Shit! You're burning up."

And just like that, the strong, brave young woman in front of him shrank, "Come on. I'll take care of you regardless."

In the jeep, Shane closed his eyes briefly. Sometime later, when he woke, they were in a garage of some type and Beth was struggling to pull down the rusted garage door.

"Let me," he said, climbing out of the jeep. He swayed on his feet, but quickly went to her side and put all of his strength into pulling the door down.

Beth watched him with sad eyes, "Come on. Let's find you somewhere to lay down."

...

The house Beth had chosen was deep in the suburbs. Though she'd seen an occasional walker on their drive, none had been around this area. After putting Shane on a sofa, she'd quickly cleared the house, and thankfully there were no walkers inside. The place was in shambles, and every bit of food had been removed from the pantry and cabinets.

When she checked on Shane, he was sound asleep, and his fever was high. She pulled an antibiotic syringe from her backpack and administered it to him.

Sighing, she sat on the floor beside him, knowing her efforts were probably a waste, but she cleaned and wrapped the walker bite on his arm anyway.

About an hour later, he groaned and she rushed to his side. Surely it was just her imagination, but he didn't seem as hot as before. Everyone she loved was dead, and seeing Shane, a part of her life before the hospital, had filled her with such hope that something of old Beth could be salvaged, that his impending death was hurting her more than she would have realized.

"Water," he whispered huskily, and lifted his head as she placed a bottle at his lips. He drank deeply. His eyes were bloodshot when he looked at her, "Tell me about Rick. About everyone."

So she did, about losing the farm, the prison, Lori and Judith, the fall of the prison and finally about Daryl and her kidnapping.

His eyes had teared up when she told him Carl had shot his own mother, and again as she talked of Rick being beat to death by the governor.

"So we're all that's left?" he whispered, and she took his hand and held it to her chest.

"And soon it will just be me."

"I'm dying," he stated.

"More than likely. Only two people have ever survived the Doc's serums. Katherine, the other nurse, and me," she said, showing him her walker bite scar, "I was hopeful, the fever didn't come, you know? And then it did."

"How long, do ya think?"

"A couple of hours. Tops," Beth whispered.

...

Shane wished he had the strength to take the young woman into his arms and hold her. Everything about Beth Greene amazed him, her bravery, strength, and cunning were all reason enough to admire her, but to top it all, she'd grown into such a beautiful woman.

It was sad to hear about Rick, Carl, and Lori, but he'd put that part of his life out of his head over 2 years ago. Sometimes he'd thought of them, usually late at night when sleep wouldn't come, but he had genuinely loved the idea that the Grimes family was still out there, still surviving. And now they were gone.

And Beth, she'd lost everyone, too.

"Tell me about you and Daryl," he prompted and her eyes had come alive with tears.

"Nothing much to tell. He sacrificed himself for me, so I could get out of the house. I'd always cared about him and we grew close while on the run together, but just when something romantic may have happened, he died. We never got the chance."

He sighed, it was hard to imagine the rough redneck with Beth, but life was strange.

"It's like you, you know?"

"Huh?" Shane replied, not following her train of thought.

"I've always had a crush on you. On the farm, I watched you constantly, you're so handsome, Shane, and you have a gorgeous body," she grinned at him, and even in his feverous state, he felt his manhood stir, "At the prison I used to daydream you'd show up one day and we'd fall in love. I was such a silly girl," she laughed, but it held a brittle sound.

"Hey," he told her suddenly, "maybe we would have. You've grown into an amazing woman, maybe I'd'a been chasing you 'round, gettin' shot at by your dad, and gettin' lectures from Rick 'bout 'you leave that young woman alone, Shane. She's half your age'. And Maggie tryin' to kick my ass."

Her laughter this time was genuine, full and sweet, and she grinned at him, her gorgeous face making him think maybe he was falling in love again, falling in love on his deathbed with a beautiful, blue-eyed angel.


	3. Chapter 3

Beth watched over Shane, and still he burned with fever. After three hours, she'd given him another shot of antibiotics, hoping against hope the fever was an old-fashioned infection. As the sun was setting, his fever broke, and tears streaked Beth's cheeks. Then she did something she hadn't done in long time.

Beth Greene got down on her knees and prayed.

Later, she pulled a chair next to him, stroked the soft, short hair on his head, and sang her own version of Kings of Leon's "Use Somebody."

"I've been roaming around, I was looking down at all I see

Painted faces fill the places I can't reach

You know that I could use somebody

You know that I could use somebody

Someone like you and all you know and how you speak

You know that I could use somebody

You know that I could use somebody

Someone like you..."

...

Shane woke up to Beth's sweet voice, he barely remembered hearing the song back in the day, but the lyrics touched his heart.

"Hey," he said, "am I still alive or is this heaven?"

She tossed back her head, happily laughing, as he sat up on the sofa.

"You're going to live! Congratulations! You are now immune to walker bites."

He stood up slowly, he was sore as hell, but damn it felt good to be alive, "Still want to fall in love?"

"Yes!" she laughed, and hugged him. She was a tiny woman, so he picked her up, held her against him, and she fit perfectly, "Yes I do!"

...

Beth couldn't stop laughing, for one thing Shane was a funny guy, and his teasing tickled her. Another reason was her sheer joy that he was alive.

They shared some food from her bag, granola bars, dried fruit, and beef jerky.

"Angel," he said, and Beth accepted that was her new nickname, "you sure packed smart."

He was slowly marveling at the items he pulled from her bag. Survival gear of all types, compact but high energy foods, medicines, clothing wrapped tightly in plastic, and 4 boxes of ammo for her little pistol. She even had personal items that he hadn't seen in a long time, things like razors, deodorant, toothbrushes and paste.

"Can I have one of these?" he asked, holding up a toothbrush. At her nod, he squeezed some paste on the brush and started scrubbing like crazy. She watched him for a while, but when it seemed like he may brush all night, she began reloading her bag, carefully arranging the contents.

"Now I can kiss you," Shane said, and Beth looked up, losing her train of thought. Instant heat flashed through her, and she said the only thing that popped in her head, "Yes, please."

He laughed and picked her up, dancing her around the room, and she laughed too. As he seated them on the sofa, her still in his arms, he sobered suddenly.

"I'm not playin' with you, Beth. If I make you mine, you're mine for keeps. I mean the long haul. Got me?"

"I got you," she whispered, reaching a hand behind his neck.

Shane's mouth slowly lowered towards hers, and he stopped just before touching her lips, "Only get one first kiss. I'm goin' do this right."

And oh did he. The barest of caresses, his lips rested against hers, and then their lips clinging, over and over again. Finally, the slow meeting of tongues, the sweet, wet slide...

Beth wanted to strip off her clothes and scream "Take me now!" but he was being so sweet that she forced herself to calm down and enjoy the feelings. She'd never experienced arousal like this, nothing in her past had ever prepared her for Shane.

His lips left hers, moved across her jaw, and settled against her throat. Beth moaned and he chuckled, "Passionate little thing."

Beth was trying to let him have his seduction, she really was, but when he started nibbling at her earlobe, she jerked away and stood up.

"I want you," she stated, "now!" She pulled her shirt over her head, and starting unbuttoning her pants, but he grabbed her hands.

"Angel, have you ever been with a man?"

"No, but I know what I want. And I want you now."

"The first time ain't always pretty, a girl's body has got to be prepared..." Shane started, but Beth jerked down her pants, grabbed his hand, and shoved it between her legs, "That feel ready to you?"

Shane gulped and just like that, the seducer became the seduced. Kicking off her jeans and panties, Beth unhooked her bra and stood in front of him, completely naked.

The heat in his eyes seemed to brand her skin, and he stood up too, moving fast for such a big man. He growled at her, actually growled, and Beth almost swooned. Reaching for the neck of his shirt, he ripped it open, and buttons clattered across the floor.

Beth thought he was the most gorgeous man she'd ever seen. Muscles bulged everywhere, down his arms, across his chest, and that stomach! That wasn't a six pack, Shane had a case.

As he shoved his jeans off his hips, Beth did pause for a second at the size of him. Everything about Shane was big.

As he picked her up, they both moaned at the skin to skin contact. Beth lifted her legs around his waist, and suddenly he was right there, pressing against her.

...

"Angel, you need to let me prepare your body. I don't want to hurt you. You're so tiny," and then Beth was pressing down against him. Shane was trying to do the right thing, but she was so hot and so tight that his brain was losing function.

He laid back flat on the sofa and let her have her way with him. Sprawled across his chest, Beth repeatedly worked the soft tightness her body down on his hardness. It took a while, and was the most amazing thing he'd ever felt in his life, but Shane was gritting his teeth loudly by the time she finally settled on his hips. He was fully inside her.

"You okay, Angel?"

"God yes," she said, placing a hand in the center of his chest for leverage. As she began moving up and down, Shane knew he'd never experienced anything like this, never been so damn aroused.

She began to pant, holding his eyes, and at some point, he'd grabbed her hips and began thrusting up into her. Only when she moaned, tossed back her head, and clenched around him did he finally allow himself to come, the most explosive orgasm of his life.

Beth slumped across his chest, licking at the skin of his neck, and whispered, "Still want to fall in love?"

Shane chuckled, "I already did."


End file.
